Alex James shocked at festival debts

Alex James, Blur's bassist and cheesemaker, is shocked that people are still waiting to be paid for taking part in a food and cheese festival that took place on his farm six months ago.

Alex James Presents Harvest took place last September and saw KT Tunstall and the Feeling play whilst chefs such as Hugh Feranley-Whittingstall and Yaotam Ottolenghi give cookery demonstations.

However two days after the event it emerged that the organisers, Big Wheel Promotions were almost £1m in debt.

James said: "The fact that people didn't get paid really, really upset me but I had to follow legal procedures and unfortunately that meant not talking about it.

Although I was simply giving my land for the festival, my major concern was making sure that, as I was seen as the host, everybody involved was paid on time. However, that was not the case and many people that worked on the event, including a local primary school, ended up out of pocket.

James himself was only partly paid upfront, James said:

"It wasn't about the money I lost. It's just a mess. It was easily the worst business deal I've ever done. I'm gutted that some people didn't get paid."

More than 7,000 people attended each day, including Jeremy Clarkson David Cameron (see below).